Austrian Gold Coins

Austrian Gold Coins have a rich history that started back in the days of the Roman Empire. First Austrian gold coins were struck around the 3rd century BC and they were mostly based on Greek and Macedonian coins. After Austria was annexed by the Roman Empire around the end of the 1st century BC, gold Roman coins Aureus and later Solidus started to circulate and were in use for the period while Austria was a part of the Roman Empire.

During its course of history, Austria had a great number of different types of gold coins minted, but Austrian gold coins can be grouped roughly in two categories: gold coins of the Austrian Empire and gold coins of the Austrian Republic.

Gold Coins of the Austrian Empire

Austrian gold coins minted between 17th and 19th century were mostly Kruezer and were not of a very high quality. Starting from the 19th century with strengthening of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austria started to mint better coins of a higher quality. During a short period from 1858 to 1866 under the rule of Franz Joseph I, Austria minted half and one Krone gold coins. Later in period from 1870 to 1892, Austria became a part of the Latin Mint Union and had double denomination coins, namely 4 Florin 10 Francs and 8 Florin 20 Francs. The Austrian gold Corona was first introduced in 1892 and was minted as 10, 20, and 100 Corona until 1918. In 1919, the Austrian monarchy was dissolved and the Austrian Republic was proclaimed.

Gold Coins of the Austrian Republic

First gold coins minted by the Austrian Republic were Kronen and they were issued in 1923-24 in denominations of 20 and 100 Kronen. Later in 1925, the Schilling was first introduced in Austria and gold schilling coins of two types in denominations of 25 and 100 schilling were minted from 1926 to 1938. There were no Austrian gold coins minted for the next 38 years, but starting from 1976, several types of commemorative gold coins in denomination of 500 and 1000 schilling were issued. The Schilling was replaced in 2002 with the Euro and even for this short of period of time a number of Austrian gold commemorative coins of this new currency unit have been already issued.

Austrian Gold Ducats

It's not possible to talk about Austrian gold coins and not to mention Austrian gold ducats. Austrian gold ducats probably the most popular Austrian gold coins and they've been around for centuries. First Austrian Gold Ducat was minted in 16th or 17th century and they're still issued by the Austrian Mint as restrikes. Ducats were used mainly as a trade coinage for payments to other countries and to foreign mercenaries. There were three denominations of Austrian Ducats: 1 Ducat, 2 Ducat, and 4 Ducat. The 2 Ducat gold coins were minted only for 2 years from 1803 to 1804, which makes them extremely rare numismatic items. But 1 and 4 Ducat gold coins were minted on a regular basis under the rule of all Austrian Emperors.

Austrian Gold Philharmonics

Austrian Gold Philharmonics or Wiener Philharmoniker are modern Austrian 24-Karat gold bullion coins. These Austrian gold coins have been minted since 1989 and originally were issued only in two sizes: 500 and 2000 schilling. Later in 1991, 200 schilling Philharmonics were added, and in 1994, 1000 schilling gold coins. The weights for the coins were 1, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/10 troy ounce of pure gold. Starting from 2002, Austrian Philharmonics were issued under a new currency unit Euro as 10, 25, 50, and 100 Euros respectively.

You can see current listings for Austrian Gold Coins here: